A storage area network (SAN) is a high-speed network that interconnects different types of storage elements with servers and provides a shared storage pool for servers (hosts) connected to the SAN. The storage elements may include storage arrays, switches, expanders, volume managers, Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) and Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAID).
A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) combines a plurality of physical hard disk drives into a logical drive for purposes of reliability, capacity, or performance. Thus, instead of multiple physical hard disk drives, an operating system sees the logical drive.
The Storage Management Initiative-Specification (SMI-S) is a storage standard developed and maintained by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and ratified as American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard ANSI INCITS 388-2004. SMI-S is an object orientated, platform independent standard for managing storage elements in a SAN based upon a Common Information Model (CIM) and Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) standards (using Extensible Markup Language (XML) over Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)) defined by the Distributed Management Task Force (DTMF). SMI-S also provides security and automated discovery of storage elements coupled to a SAN. SMI-S allows storage elements to be managed through out-of-band connections.
Although a standard mechanism has been defined through the use of the Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI)-3 Controller Commands (SCC) for in-band management of storage arrays using the SCSI addressing architecture, it has not been adopted, primarily due to security related concerns. Instead, management of a storage array is typically performed out-of-band over a local area network separate from the SAN.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments of the claimed subject matter, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the claimed subject matter be viewed broadly, and be defined only as set forth in the accompanying claims.